AI tools can help make phishing and scams more effective, raising the question of how to counter attacks that use them. Australian security company Apate has developed an AI-powered system designed to keep phone scammers occupied for as long as possible.
The system draws on a pool of about 350,000 AI bots. They can answer calls from suspected scammers or respond to suspicious messages through services such as messaging apps. The agents are designed to imitate different personalities and behaviors, encouraging scammers to keep engaging in the hope that a target might eventually fall for the fraud. Some conversations reportedly last more than two hours.
Apate CEO Dali Kafaar told Wired that time spent talking to one of the bots is time a scammer cannot spend contacting other potential victims. The agents may also respond in ways intended to prolong an interaction, such as saying they are busy and asking the caller to get back in touch later.
The system's work goes beyond tying up scammers. Apate says its agents have entered online scam groups and collected more than 250,000 pieces of information about fraudulent activity and those responsible. The data includes details about individuals and bank accounts allegedly used to conceal criminal activity.
The bots cannot stop scams entirely, and the article notes that their pool of 350,000 agents is small compared with an estimated 68 billion scam calls worldwide each year, a figure attributed to Truecaller. The information gathered by the agents may offer another way to help disrupt such operations over time.
Sources: t3n.